Rearwardly inclined seat chair



March 5, 1940. A. J. JUNGERMAN 2,192,577

REARWARDLY INCLINED SEAT CHAIR Filed Nov. 18, 1956 4 Sheets-Sheet 13rmentor Qttorneg Arthur J Jungerman March 5, 1940. A. J. JUNGERMAN2,192,577

REARWARDLY IN CLINED SEAT CHAIR Filed Nov. 18, 1936 I 4 Sheets-Sheet -2ZSnnentor Arthur J. Jungerman (Ittorneg March 5, 1940. A. J. JUNGERMANREARWARDLY INCLINED' SEAT CHAIR Filed Nov. 1a, 1936 4 Sheets-Sheet sFig. 10

Snventor Arthur J Jungermari March 1940. JUING'ER MAN 2,192,577 RARWABDH INCLiNED SEAT CHAIR Filed Ndv. 18. 19:56

4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVIENTOR. Ari/21th! Jurzgerman BY A TTORNEYS.

Patented Mar. 5, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT FFiCE REARWARDLY INCLINEDSEAT CHAIR Arthur J. Jungerman, Louisville, Ky.

Application November 18, 1936, Serial No. 111,416

5 Claims.

its rear end moves vertically and its front end.

horizontally.

An object of the invention is to provide a chair of this character witha movable backrest which enables an occupant to move to a semi-standingposition while resting against it.

Another object is to improve the seat supporting means to the end ofpreventing accidental movement of an occupied seat toward its raisedposition.

Another object is to provide a novel arrangement for moving the seatautomatically-to its raised position and for cushioning its returnmovement to the lowered position which insures easy and quiet operation.

A further feature of the invention resides in the provision of means forindicating vacant seats.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure l is a top plan view partially broken away and showing the chairin its normal unoccupied position,

Figure 2 is a sectional elevation of the chair taken on line 22 ofFigure 1,

Figure 3 is a top plan view of the carriage element and the supportingplate,

Figure 4 is an elevation of the carriage element and the supportingplate,

Figure 5 is a section on line 55 of Figure 4,

Figure 6 is a sectional elevation of the chair in its seating positionwith the right side standard removed,

Figure '7 is a section on line 11 of Figure 6,

Figure 8 is a section on line 8-8 of Figure 6,

Figure 9 is a section on line 9-9 of Figure 6 showing the relativepositions of the rollers in the guide rail,

Figure 10 is a rear elevation partially broken away and showing thechair in its normal unoccupied position,

Figure 11 is a side elevation partially broken away and showing thechair with the backrest in the upward extended position,

Figure 12 is a detail view of the light means,

Figure 13 is a front elevation of an alternative chair structure,

Figures 14 and 15 are central vertical sections .showing the seatssupporting and moving mechanism, especially in chair occupied andunoccupied positions.

The chair design illustrated in Figures 1 to 12 inclusive of thedrawings includes a frame work, backrest, seat and seat indicatingmeans.

Framework loosely upon a suitable base or fioor to be fixed thereto inany suitable manner.

Backrest The backrest, which is indicated generally by the numeral 5, ispositioned adjacent to, but in advance of, the framework tie members. Itmay be fixedly mounted thereon in the conventional manner, but, inaccordance with my invention, preferably is slidably mounted formovement in a vertically inclined plane. To this end a pair of laterallyspaced, vertically inclined guide rails 6 are positioned between theframework and backrest and fixedly secured to both upper and lower tiemembers. Each guide rail 6 has, in its outer side face, an outwardlyfacing U-shaped channel or groove 6a which is open from top to bottomexcept for a short covered'section at the bottom. The upper or opensection of the U- shaped channels to provides spaced trackways on whichthe backrest 5 may be mounted and along which it may be moved.Accordingly the latter is slidably mounted thereon by means of a pair ofupper brackets l and lower brackets 8, all of which are fixedly securedto the backrest and slidably secured to the trackways. The upperbrackets I extend rearwardly from opposite sides of the backrestdirectly to the trackways while the lower brackets 8 extend fromopposite sides of the backrest downwardly for a suitable .distance andthence rearwardly to the trackways. Both upper and lower brackets arepreferably provided with rollers 9 to facilitate movement along thetrackway.

Normally the backrest is yieldingly or resiliently supported, in theintermediate position shown'in Figure 2, by a pair of springs ll], onespring being arranged in each of the grooves 6a underneath the lowerbackrest bracket 8. Each spring. H1 is mounted in the covered section ofthe groove and normally projects upwardly into the open section thereofsufl'lciently to cause the buffer elements II, at its upper end, to bearagainst the bracket 8. Consequently while the backrest is arranged formovement along the trackway, from its intermediate or normal Figure 2position, both downwardly to the low or seating Figure 6 position andupwardly to the high Figure 11 position, its movement, below the normalposition, is opposed by the springs H3, and, above such position, bygravity. In passing it may be noted that such bufier elements as areheretofore or hereafter mentioned may, and preferably are composed ofsome suitable material, such as rubber, felt etc., to facilitate thequiet operation of the chair.

Seat

The seat which is indicated generally by the numeral l2 normallyoccupies the tilted or rearwardly inclined position shown in Figure 2but is arranged for movement to the horizontal seating position shown inFigure 6 during which its rear end moves vertically downward and itsfront end horizontally forward. The rear end and the front end of theseat are cut away or slanted respectively, to permit the continuousretention of the upper edge closely adjacent the backrest, andparticularly during vertical movement, without interfering with suchmovement, and to reduce interference of the front end with the legmovement of an occupant so as to give the occupant greater leg freedomunderneath the seat.

Suitable means should be provided to guide the rear end of the seatduring its vertical movement in either direction. To this end a bracketI3 is arranged to extend from each side of the seat to the adjacenttrackway, each bracket being fixedly secured to the seat and slidablysecured, through the agency of roller M on the bracket, to the trackway.It will be observed that the seat bracket I3 is bent around thedownwardly extended portion of the lower backrest bracket 8 so as toengage the trackway between upper and lower backrest brackets. Normallythe backrest brackets 8 are spaced from the seat brackets 53, but, asthe seat is lowered, each seat bracket buffer elements l5 engages eachbackrest buffer element 16 and moves it downwardly to the seatingposition, thus lowering the backrest and compressing springs l0.

To support the front end of the seat and to guide it during horizontalmovement, a movable carriage I1 is provided on each side standard of thechair below the seat. The forward end of each carriage is pivotallyconnected to the adjacent side of the seat by a laterally projecting pinI8 on each side of the seat. The pins l8 are located adjacent the frontend of the seat so as to prevent the accidental raising of an occupiedseat as a result of downward pressure centered along its front edgethereof. Each carriage is supported, for limited horizontal movement ina fixed path, by and between spaced upper rollers I9 and spaced lowerrollers 20,, on aplate 21 which is fixedly secured to the side standardI. The rear end of each plate 2| is provided with a buffer element 22which functions as a cushioning stop to limit the rearward movement ofthe carriage. The forward movement of the carriage is limited byproviding, on its rear end, a buffer element 23 which is too large topass between l9 and 20.

In further accordance with my invention, the seat, when vacated, isautomatically moved from lowered to raised position and resiliently heldin raised position. This may be accomplished by springs or otheryieldable or resilient means positioned to urge either the front end ofthe seat rearwardly or the rear end thereof upwardly. In either event itis desirable to secure, with minimum spring strength, a maximum upwardlydirected force at the rear end of the seat when it is in its loweredposition, so as to produce easy and quiet operation of the seat in bothdirections. With this in mind it will be observed that the angle betweena rearwardly directed force and the trackways is but slightly obtuse inthe lowered position of the seat while greatly obtuse in the raisedposition thereof; hence the upwardly directed component of that force isrelatively weak in the lowered position of the seat. This maynecessitate the use of an excessively strong spring at the front end, inorder to provide a sufficient, upwardly directed component, and maytherefore produce a stronger operating action than is desired. On theother hand a force, vertically directed on the rear end of the seatthroughout its full raised and lowered movement, requires a springcapable of acting through a considerable distance. A spring of thischaracter may. interfere with the space freedom desired underneath theseat. All of the foregoing difficulties, however, may be readily avoidedand quiet and easy operation insured, by using both front and rearsprings and by arranging them so that the rear springs operate only tosupplement the action of the front springs in the lower ranges of seatmovement. Accordingly a pair of front springs 24 and a pair of rearsprings 25 are provided.

The front springs 24 are connected, at the rear of the chair, toopposite side standards I, and adjacent the front of the seat, to thelower end of a single lug 26 which projects downwardly from the centerof a U-shaped bar 21. The bar 21 is fixedly anchored to the seat andarranged to extend around the underside thereof from one pin l8 to theother. The rear springs 25 are mounted underneath the rear end of theseat on a cross bar 28 which is secured to opposite side standards. Thebar 28 holds the rear springs 25 in position to engage seat bufferelements 29 during the lower ranges of seat movement, that is to saybetween the lowered position and an intermediate position represented bythe upper ends of the rear springs 25 when they are freely extended. Inthis connection it may be noted that, in the embodiment illustrated, theaction of the rear springs 25 is supplemented by the backrest springsl0.

Operation With the seat and backrest in the normal or raised position,both may be lowered simply by sitting upon the seat. In lowering, fromthe raised to the intermediate position, the seat is resiliently opposedonly by the front springs 24, but, from the intermediate to the loweredpositions of the seat, it is opposed by all springs. When the seat isvacated after being lowered, the front springs 24 and rear springs 25operate to retract the seat and to raise the rear end thereof upwardlyto the intermediate position, from which position the front springs 24continue the seat raising movement until it is fully raised. Thebackrest, of course, moves between normal and lowered positions onlyduring corresponding movement of the seat in its lower range of movementor more or less between intermediate and lowered positions.

In theaters and the like, it is often necessary for chair occupants torise in order to permit or facilitate the passage of a person in frontof the chair. With the chair illustrated, an occupant may, in such case,simply rise to a standing position and, as the seat is automaticallyraised, step backwardly into the space made available by the rearwardmovement of the seat. Or, instead of this, the occupant may rise to andrest in a comfortable semi-standing position simply by holding his backagainst the backrest during rising movement so as to cause it to moveupwardly along the trackways towards its high figure H position. In thislatte-r event, it will be understood, of course, that, as the occupantrises, the seat will rise with the backrest or in advance of it.

Seat indicating means In darkened theaters it is sometimes quitedifficult to locate unoccupied or vacant seats. To avoid thisdifficulty, it is desirable to provide readily visible means forindicating a vacant seat and means for shutting off the indicator whenthe seat is occupied. While such means may take a variety of forms andmay be controlled remotely, a light emitting indicator located on thechair and controlled through the movement of either backrest or seat ispreferred. Accordingly, in the chair above described, a light emittingdevice 38, preferably in the form of an incandescent lamp, is mounted onthe upper face of the backrest and electrically connected by wires 3|,which pass downwardly between the backrest and cover and through aconduit 32, to a suitable source of current. Naturally the lamp 3!) maybe controlled through a suitable switch connected either to the backrestor seat so as to cause the lamp to be illuminated in the raised anddarkened in the lowered positions of the seat. However, in thearrangement illustrated, it is controlled by positioning it on thebackrest so that it is exposed above the cover t in the normal backrestposition and concealed behind the cover l in the lowered backrestposition.

Alternative chair structure An alternative chair structure isillustrated in Figures 13 to 15 inclusive. This chair includes aconventional frame work having side standards I and a backrest 5, whichmay be movably mounted on the frame work but which, as illustrated, isimmovably secured thereto. The chair also includes a seat l2 mounted onthe framework for movement between a rearwardly inclined raised positionand a horizontal seating position, such movement being of the samegeneral character as is obtained in the other structure.

The front end of the seat is supported on the framework by means of apair of arms 33. One front arm extends downwardly from each front cornerof the seat to the lower end of the adjacent side standard and ispivotally connected at opposite ends respectively to the seat andstandard. The pivotal connection of the seat to the arm permits itsangular movement relatively thereto, while the pivotal connection of thearm to the standard permits movement of the front end of the seat in anarcuate but substantially horizontal fixed path. If desired, the arm 33may be connected together by a brace member 3B. Before passing, it maybe noted that the forward location of the supporting arms prevents anoccupied seat from being unintentionally moved toward its raisedposition when an occupant canters his weight adjacent the front of theseat.

front end, it is connected to the standard by means of a pair of reararms 35 which are connected together by a brace member 36. These armsare located on each side of the chair and slightly to the rearof arms33. Their upper ends are pivotally connected to the seat and their lowerends similarly connected to the standards but the latter pivotalconnection is offset toward the rear of the chair and if necessaryelevated so as to place thearc of movement of its seat connection alonga plane of such vertical inclination as will cause the rear end to movein the desired vertical path.

It will be appreciated that the seat can be raised and lowered simply byswinging the upper ends of both the supporting arms 33 and the guidearms 35 rearwardly and forwardly. While such movement can, as before, beeffected either by front springs 24 or rear springs 25, both preferablyare utilized. The front springs, which can be variously arranged, areshown as connecting the supporting arm 33 above its standard pivot to anextension 35a of the guide arm 35 below its pivot so as to urge theupper ends of both arms rearwardly. The rear spring 25, as before, ismounted on a cross bar Ziland functions only to supplement the action ofthe front springs. In thisconnection it'may be noted that the locationof the'cross bar 28 is such as to necessitate the bending of the upperends of the guide members 35 sufficiently to avoid interference.

In this structure it may be advisable to limit the movement of the seatin either or both directions, but particularly in the forward or seattheoccupied position, is horizontally extended at a substantial distancebelow the arm rest with its front end projecting substantially beyondthe front end of the framework and with its rear end extending adjacentthe backrest, and, in the unoccupied position, is rearwardly inclinedwith its front end horizontally retracted to extend adjacent the frontend. of the framework and its rear and substantially elevated to extendadjacent both the backrest and the arm rest. It will be appreciated thatthe horizontal retraction of the front end of the seat from itssubstantially projecting position relatively to the framework to arelatively nonprojecting position has the vadvantage of maximizing theavailable corridor space in front of the seat. It will also beappreciated that the horizontal retraction of the front end of the seatcoupled with the elevation of the rear end, to a position wherein itextends adjacent both backrest and the arm rest minimizes the elevationof the seat as a whole. This is advantageous because the seat, whenunoccupied, is held in a position which enables a prosubject matterrepresented by Figures 13 to 15 inclusive. For the subject matterrepresented by Figures 1 to 12 inclusive, it is a continuation of anapplication filed December 4, 1933 and serially numbered 700,768,(allowed August 13, 1935 and renewed August'lO, 1936) which, in turn, isa continuation of an original application filed December 19, 1932 andserially numbered 647,867.

I claim:

1. A chair of the character having a backrest, an armrest, and asupporting framework, comprising: a seat adapted for pivotal movementabout an axis adjacent its front end; means supporting the seat for, andguiding it during, movement between a horizontal occupied position,wherein it extends substantially below the armrest with its rear endadjacent the backrest and its front end projecting substantially beyondthe front end of the framework, and a rearwardly inclined unoccupiedposition, wherein its rear end is substantially elevated to extendadjacent both the backrest and the armrest, while its front end issubstantially retracted to extend adjacent the front end of theframework;-said means including: a member supported on said frameworkand pivotally engaging the seat at its front end axis to support thefront end of the seat and to confine its axis to and guide it in asubstantially horizontal path of movement between occupied andunoccupied positions, the seat-engaging portion of said member movingwith the axis substantially horizontally forward and rearward betweensaid occupied and unoccupied positions in which it respectively projectssubstantially beyond, and extends behind, the front end of theframework; and guide means supported on said framework and connected tothe seat to direct the rear end of the seat along a substantiallyvertical path of movement between occupied and unoccupied positions-;and means to prevent the rear end of the seat from moving downwardlybeyond its occupied position.

2. The chair of claim 1 wherein yieldable means are provided to opposethe movement of the seat to its occupied position and to effect itsmovement from such position to its unoccupied position automaticallywhen it becomes unoccupied.

3. The chair of claim 1, wherein the front-end support and guide meanscomprise an arm pivotally secured to the seat at the front-end axisthereof and to the framework adjacent the front end thereof.

4. The chair of claim 1, wherein the rear-end guide means comprises anarm pivotally secured to the seat at a point intermediate the front-endaxis of the seat and the rear end thereof, and to the framework at apoint between, but substantially spaced from, the front and rear endsthereof.

j 5. The chair of claim 1, wherein the front-end support and guide meansand the rear-end guide means respectively comprise: a front armpivvotally secured to the seat at the front-end axis thereof, and to thelower part of the framework adjacent its front end; and a rear armpivotally secured to the seat at a point between its frontend axis andits rear end, and to the lower part of the framework at a point betweenbut substantially spaced from the front and rear ends of the framework;the pivotal connection of the rear arm to the framework being elevatedwith respect to the pivotal connection of the front arm to theframework.

ARTHUR J. JUNGERMAN.

